Farewell Provence, Hello Paris!

Our time in Provence has come to an end. We saw lot of the area and did so without running ourselves completely ragged. The past couple days saw us in Les Baux de Provence and Avignon again. We tried to keep the driving to a minimum and did not want to venture too far away from our home during our last couple days. As we were revisiting some towns, the camera did not come out nearly as often. The first photo here is the top of St. Vincent Chapel in Les Baux de Provence. The second is the walled city of Avignon as seen from the half bridge - Le Pont Saint-Benezet. This is looking directly over the wall and at the Palace of the Popes.

William, our wonderful host brought us fresh croissants and baguettes again on our departure day. In all, he did this on five of our seven mornings in the Le Vieil Moulin. A delightful way to begin our days in Provence – with oven -fresh pastries and bread. These are a couple shots of the outside of our home there. The windows next to the water mill looked into our kitchen. The second photo is looking directly at the house, the front porch to the right. The next is a bit more to the right. You can see the steps leading up to another of the four hamlets on this property. The nice couple staying there this past week are from Denver, Colorado.

We took the 2pm train out of Avignon and arrived at our Paris Apartment a touch past 5pm. We are in a two bedroom apartment on Rue Vavin, one block from the southwestern corner of The Luxembourg Gardens. I have read that Rue Vavin is filled with Children’s Boutiques and toy stores. Uh no. Unfortunately, I discovered that bit of information after booking the apartment. The presence of such shops should be the equivalent of added a few more Euro onto the price of the apartment!

We plan on visiting the Louvre on Sunday. As it is the first Sunday of the month, the renowned museum is free to all. That is well within our price range! Also on Sunday, in the late afternoon/early evening, is the Luxembourg Gardens Marionette Show. With any luck, we will take a few spins around a Parisian carousel as well!

The forecast for much of this week in Paris calls for rain, which is unfortunate. Hopefully we get a bit of good luck and it remains mostly dry during our stay.

Tomorrow - a look at our Apartment, the Louvre, Luxembourg Gardens...

Jeff
OWTK – live in Paris!
http://www.owtk.com

The road back to St. Remy

Minutes after our time in Roussillon came to an end and we got back in the car, our daughter fell fast asleep. I quickly put a Charlie Parker disc in the cd player, rolled down the window, and drove through the Luberon Mountains - cruising through the hillside/top towns of Bonnieux and Menerbes and viewing from a far Bonnieux's rival village - Lacoste. I have no idea if any civic rivaly really exists between Bonnieux and Lacoste, but to see these two bookend hillside towns - you could imagine some pretty heated football (soccer) matches!

The two villages look like twins seperated at birth, standing on opposite sides of a valley.






The final two pictures are of Menerbes. One is the village from the road leaving the town and the other, roadside wine grapes.


Jeff
OWTK - live in Provence!
http://www.owtk.com

Roussillon - The colors of Provence

A view from the road, on the way to Roussillon. Nothing makes me think of Provence more than a little stone house or shed in the middle of a field (of lavender, sunflowers, or in this case, grapes).





My dream view. Oh, to wake up and take breakfast out to that porch each morning!











The bell tower at the center of the village. It is the highest point in Roussillon.
















The village as seen in most postcards and photographs. This was taken from the hill leading to the Ocre walk and the parking lot.













Another shot of this spectacular place.












Roussillon is famous for it's Ocre - a pigment dyed clay used to make pottery and paints. These colors, to me, are what makes provence so lovely - even more so than lavender, which makes it famous. The deep oranges, reds, yellows, and tans seen in Roussillon are some of the most beautiful colors on the planet. These shots are from a hiking/walking trail down through the cliffs and woods, in which you are surrounded by the vibrant colors.
































Mont Ventoux, the highest peak in Provence I believe, as seen from the highest point in Roussillon, a lookout just above the bell tower.














If you have any inclination of visiting this region of France, be sure to stop off for a half a day (or the rest of your life!) in the serene hilltop village of Roussillon. It truly is a special place.



Jeff
OWTK - live in Provence!
http://wwww.owtk.com

Aix-en-Provence

On Wednesday we visited Aix-en-Provence, the home of Cezanne, for a few hours. This city intimidated the heck out of me last time we toured Provence and I never did get to see it (from the inside). Then, I was only 2 days into my first stick shift experience and the tight streets, hills, and traffic of Aix was too much for me. That was not a good day. This time around I was cruising in my tiny automatic car and was fearing nothing. The city was nice but I do not think we spent enough time there to fully appreciate it and soak it in. We did, however, spend a small fortune on our daughter's fall wardrobe (pictures may follow - eBay style, with the outfits laid out flat on the floor). There is a kid's clothing store in Aix that had the most adorable fall/winter pants, skirts, tops, and sweaters. The prices were fair (close to a Children's Place or Gymboree back in the States). Of course, the US Dollar vs. Euro did not help at all, but what the heck - she is only going to be 2.5 years old in Provence once in her life!

The streets of Aix were packed with cars and people, so I kept the camera in it's bag for much of the afternoon. I did, however, need to take a photo of these shoes. Very cool and very pricey! We are a little crazy, but not crazy enough to spend nearly $380 US on a pair of shoes (although I know a dapper young man who is!).



On Thursday, OWTK was in Roussillon - maybe one of the prettiest places on Earth. We also drove through Bonnieux and Menerbes as our girl enjoyed a well-earned nap after much walking and climbing and jumping in Roussillon. Look for the next - very photo heavy - post early Friday morning.



Jeff
OWTK - live in Provence!
http://www.owtk.com

Le Vieil Moulin - Our Home in Provence

We found our French Provencal house on VRBO then worked directly with the owner, via email and his website, to secure a reservation.

There are downsides to such accomodation, however. Many vacation homes will not employ a housekeeping staff, meaning the chores of homelife will travel with you. You will not leave for the beach in the A.M. and return to a turned-down bed, fluffed up pillows, and fresh linens - you will be coming back to the home looking exactly as it did when you left it.

We dig being able to do our own laundry (which allowed us to pack a little bit lighter) and having a full kitchen. This place is one of four hamlets, positioned together, a short drive (or healthy walk) from the center of the beautiful Saint Remy de Provence. The owner and his small staff have been superb at being both accomodating and invisible. They prepared for us a homemade welcome meal of Lasagne, salad, a fresh baguette, peach tarts, and vanilla ice cream. All of which was waiting inside the refridgerator. Such a wonderful suprise (it truly was! there was no mention of this free, extra welcome "gift" when we booked the house). The fridge was also stocked with eggs, yogurt, soda, butter, milk, and juice. All complimentary - what a nice touch. Each of the first two morning, we had hanging on our door a bag of fresh, warm croissants and pain au chocolats. I cannot recommend this vacation house (or group of houses) enough.



Jeff
OWTK - live from Provence!
http://www.outwiththekids.com

Continuing the Carousel tour of France...

I really should be writing a Carousel coffee table book. We have now been on five carousels in five days! Nimes, an ancient Roman city, had not one...but two of them - about 200 meters apart! Naturally, we could not pick just one to ride on!

Nimes also features a big round thing that does not move - an enormous Roman colosseum. Natually, we arrived 5 minutes after it closed for the day (just like the castle at the top of Les Baux de Provence). We were busy dropping WAY too many Euro in a fashionable women's clothing store a few blocks away.

We spent only a few hours walking about Nimes and I did not break out the camera too often.


Jeff
OWTK - live in Provence!
http://www.owtk.com

Pont de Gard

On Tuesday morning we headed west to Pont du Gard.

Pont du Gard is a Roman aqueduct dating back more than 2000 yeards. It sits on the river Gardon (it is possible to kayak and canoe here, we saw a group of kayakers launch just north of Pont du Gard.)





We parked on River Gauche (the right) side where the main tourist center and museum are situated. From there it is a short walk to the river and over the Gard. Across the bridge, on the other side of the river, are mysterious old stone steps that appear to have you walking straight into the trees. Naturally, our daughter wanted to investigate! Boy, are we glad she did - as they led to an exciting adventure up hundreds of steps, then onto a rugged path and over rocky trails to a serene vista offering complimentary panaromic views of the region. These two photos were taken from up there. Clouds were scattered overhead for most of the day but the sun broke through as we reached the pinnacle, paying us a warm tribute for the effort. Our girl loved climbing and exploring up there. She even left her mark (if you know what I mean) alongside the trail. I did not snap a photo of that (although I was tempted to!)

Afterwards, OWTK stopped off in Nimes (2 more carousels!).

Wednesday saw us pay an afternoon visit to Aix-en-Provence, home of Cezanne.

Pictures of all this coming soon...

Jeff
OWTK - live in Provence!
http://www.owtk.com

Sunset in Les Baux de Provence

Hi there, apologies for the lack of a post yesterday. Blame it on France Telecom - our internet connection was temporarily lost in our house. Monday night saw OWTK touring the mountain village of Les Baux de Provence (awarded the distinction of being one of the loveliest villages in France by folks who make such grandeous proclaimations. I cannot say that I disagree but it does not appear as though anyone actually lives in the village - giving them an unfair advantage in presenting and maintaining such loveliness!).


We arrived just in time to visit a few shops before they closed for the day (but not in time to tour the castle at the very top) and to watch the serene sunset.




















Here are some old ruins in the town. To the right is what appears to an ancient window pane.










The gorgeous entrance to a wonderful shop: All biscuits, cookies, and candies. All the goodies are laid out fresh and sold by the kilo. We bought 15 Euro worth of cookies and it could have been much worse! Simply delicious!









Alas, the end of a perfect day.




Jeff OWTK - live in Provence! http://www.owtk.com

Day Out in St. Remy de Provence

The rain is gone! Hooray! The blue skies moved in around 11am and the forecast calls for sunshine and low 70's the rest of the week. Good news indeed! We spent much of Monday walking St. Remy de Provence (our "hometown"). I bought my first three loaves of fresh artisanal bread since arriving in France. Needless to say, I am very excited! Today marked the unoffical end of Summer and as is customary, the Cowboys from the Camargue marched black bulls (also from that region) around the perimeter of St. Remy. The cowboys, on horseback, and the followers on bicycles made it very hard to see the handful of bulls that walked between them. We did a bit of shopping at a local market, picking up jambon superior (good ham - and yes, it was!) to go with one of the baguettes (boy, I could eat that every day, in fact - I might!) and some other groceries. Dinner tonight is set for somewhere in Les Baux de Provence, a mountain village set in the Alpilles (lil' Alps) mountains. I have read that sunsets are just lovely from that vantage point. We shall see...

Jeff
OWTK - live in Provence!
http://www.outwiththekids.com

Rainy day in Provence

It rained throughout our first evening in Provence. However, after a breakfast of fresh croissants (delivered to our door by the gracious owner/innkeeper) the consensus was that the leftover clouds would be clearing soon and that the day would turn out to be a nice one. Our amateur weather forecasting was totaly incorrect. Just as our 30 minute journey to Isle sur la Sorgue came to an end and we managed to land a decent parking spot, the skies opened up and washed out our trip to the open air Sunday market in that village.






We continued on to Avignon and picked up our unofficial tour of French Carousels. We have been in the country for 48 hours and have been on three thus far! This one, in the middle of Avignon's main drag, was almost the equal of the fine carousel in Paris. It too is of the double decker variety. We took six spins total, spread out before and after lunch. The cost: 12 rides for 15 Euro.










Avignon is famous for, among other things, being the home to the Popes for a period of time. Their Palace is a focal point of the city, along with the bridge that extends only halfway across the water, and the walls surrounding this ancient city.





We are plannin g a return trip to Avignon later this week, to do some shopping and, most likely, some more carousel-ing!




Jeff
OWTK - live in Provence!
http://www.outwiththekids.com